Today the Christmas box team took the highway East 250 miles to Burgas to begin our distributions. On the way, we stopped to see our old friend Marianna Dimitrova, who is an ex-pupil of Lipnitsa Orphanage/School. The Trussell Trust worked together with Mr Petkov, Lipnitsa's headteacher, to help Marianna escape an abusive family situation. It's really good to see her with a family of her own now and working in her village with the children; including giving out shoeboxes at the Christmas parties she and her husband organise.

Upon arrival at Burgas, we met with our friend Jello who had organised three visits for us to three very different institutions. The first was an orphanage for children aged 3-7 in Sredets. Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures but the children were very excited and recited the poetry they had learned perfectly before we gave out presents

. Next up was a protected home for adults with severe mental health problems. The residents were really happy to receive their boxes and the team got a lot of hugs and smiles while we were there. Our last visit was to a senior citizen's home. It was very moving to go room by room and give presents to the elderly folk. Claire was giving a box to one lady who insisted upon singing a song, even some of the blokes looked a bit teary! One gent compared Rich to St Nicholas and it does feel a bit like playing Father Christmas when you go into a darkened room where folk are sleeping and you leave Christmas shoeboxes on their bedside tables for when they wake...

Here are some pics and a video will follow.

Tomorrow we have more distributions in Burgas and then head back west, visiting more orphanages on our way.